After US Visa is approved

[O'Canada 0]

Can anyone tell me what happens after you have received your US Visa and have entered the country within the 6 months and applied for your change of status?

More specifically, can the immigrant and the sponsor move freely between the US and Canada, or is there a requirement to stay in the US until your green card has been issued? In other words can we come back to Canada to close the house sale etc?

Any info is greatly appreciated!

[Tom & Stacy 3]

Can anyone tell me what happens after you have received your US Visa and have entered the country within the 6 months and applied for your change of status?

More specifically, can the immigrant and the sponsor move freely between the US and Canada, or is there a requirement to stay in the US until your green card has been issued? In other words can we come back to Canada to close the house sale etc?

Any info is greatly appreciated!

Once you have the visa in your hand, you need to enter the USA within 6 months. Then, once you've landed on US soil, you must marry within 90 days and file for Adjustment of Status which will kick off the waiting process for receiving a green card. Until you have the green card, you must remain on US soil. It can take some time....approx. 4-6 months from filing.

Best bet, close the house before you leave. Save you lots of worry and hassle!

[Penguin_ie 5,996]

It depends on the visa.

If you are getting a K1 fiancee visa, you must marry and adjust status (or at least get AP after marrying, which takes 3-ish months).

However, you posted in the DCF forum and you cannot get a fiance visa via DCF (DCF is not possible in Canada btw), so which visa are you applying for?

[O'Canada 0]

I should have made it clear, my husband is a USC living with me in Canada, so it is the immigrant spousal visa.

[HeatDeath 430]

When you enter the US on a K-1 fiancee visa, as was stated above, you need to stay in the US until you get an Advance Parole document (it's usually a card these days) or your green card. That's 4-6 months.

But if you are entering the US on a CR-1 spousal immigration visa, they will put an "I-551" stamp in your passport which is the legal equivalent of your green card (which will arrive in the mail several months later) and you can cross the border freely right away (although you are considered a US resident from that point on and must spend at least half your time in the US or you risk forfeiting your permanent residence).

So yes, since you have a spousal visa, making day trips back to Canada to attend to selling the house, etc, should be no problem.